Periphery Heavy Tank

[Ramblefire]

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Ikari Heavy Tank

Mass: 75 tons
Movement Type: Tracked
Power Plant: 225 ICE
Cruising Speed: 32.4 kph
Maximum Speed: 54 kph
Armor: Standard
Armament:
     1 Machine Gun
     2 LRM 5
     1 SRM 6
     1 AC/10
Manufacturer: Unknown
     Primary Factory: Unknown
Communication System: Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System: Unknown
Introduction Year: 2900
Tech Rating/Availability: E/X-D-D-D
Cost: 1,742,563 C-bills

Type: Ikari
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Introductory)
Movement Type: Tracked
Tonnage: 75
Battle Value: 1,179

Equipment                                          Mass
Internal Structure                                  7.5
Engine                        225 ICE                20
Cruising MP: 3
Flank MP: 5
Heat Sinks:                   0                       0
Control Equipment:                                  4.0
Power Amplifier:                                    0.0
Turret:                                             2.0
Armor Factor                  280                  17.5

                          Internal   Armor   
                          Structure  Value   
     Front                   8         68   
     R/L Side               8/8      56/56   
     Rear                    8         44   
     Turret                  8         56   


Weapons
and Ammo                      Location    Tonnage   
2 LRM 5                        Turret       4.0     
SRM 6                          Turret       3.0     
Machine Gun                    Turret       0.5     
AC/10                          Turret       12.0   
LRM 5 Ammo (24)                 Body        1.0     
AC/10 Ammo (20)                 Body        2.0     
SRM 6 Ammo (15)                 Body        1.0     
Half Machine Gun Ammo (100)     Body        0.5     
So the thinking is to build a heavy tank for small single planet states or other periphery powers.
It's 75 tons because stfu, I like 75 ton tanks.
It's gotta be ICE so that it a) isn't competing with anything else for fusion engine production and b) is easy to repair and maintain in large numbers for people in the nearer but still deeper periphery.
It's gotta do at least 10 damage in all range brackets.
It's gotta be heavily armored.

So this is what I came up with. 10 damage out at long range, an AC-10 for medium range, and an SRM-6 for close range, and a machine gun.
3/5 movement because 4/6 would eat unacceptably into the armor profile and I literally can't mount it without dropping some weapons so I decided that more armor was worth it.

It's about as expensive as five scorpions, but I imagine it's somewhat more capable than 5 scorpions. And if a pirate runs across it, the might well decide to leave rather than deal with repairs that wipe out their profit margins.

[Ramblefire]

The one I played with in Megamek drops the MG for an additional ton of armor. If you give it some distance, It can beat it's BV in scorpions, and it also duels reliably against a DRG-1N heavy mech because I don't like the combine they can suck it.

I haven't done lance v lance battles yet, but I think I can definitively say that a lance of these things can make most pirate raids unacceptably unprofitable. Which is all I can ask really.

[idea weenie]

Ranges 5-9 are especially nasty to face this platform in:
Range - what it can engage with
10 - LRM at Medium Range, AC/10 at Medium Range
8-9 - LRM at Medium Range, AC/10 at Medium Range, SRM at Long Range
7 - LRM at Short Range, AC/10 at Medium Range, SRM at Long Range
6 - LRM at Min Range, AC/10 at Medium Range, SRM at Medium Range (especially nasty)
5 - LRM at effectively Med range, AC/10 at Short Range, SRM at Medium Range

Normally I don't like having different weapons on the same platform as that could leave excess ammo that can't be used, but this setup mixes them together nicely.

The only change I might make is converting the 12-ton AC/10 with its 2 tons of ammo into a Large Laser with 8 Heat Sinks and a half ton Power Amplifier.  This cuts your damage by 2 pts, but the lack of ammo means it can take free shots as long as the target is in range of the Large Laser.  You get the following additional range options:

Range - what it can engage with
10 - LRM at Medium Range, LL at Medium Range
11-14 - LRM at Medium Range, LL at Long Range

Changing the AC/10 to Large Laser also means the turret can be lighter.  Previously the Turret was 2 tons due to supporting 19.5 tons of weaponry, but replacing the AC/10 with a Large Laser means the turret is only needing to support 12.5 tons of weaponry means it only needs to be 1.5 tons, thus making up the Power Amplifier difference.  The final result is that I saved another ton, and put that into more LRM-5 ammo, for a total of 2 tons.  The only problem is that the BV dropped to 1155 and the cost rose to 1,797,688 C-bills.  The Tech Rating/Availability also changed to E/X-X-X-C.


So overall, you have a very nice little platform here that will make a raider's day very miserable.  The slow speed is acceptable it doesn't have to catch the raiders, it just has to make them want to go somewhere else.

[Ramblefire]

With a swap to a fuel cell engine, the Ikari tank is able to add another LRM5 and another ton of LRM ammo, another SRM6 and another box of ammo, and add either another ton of armor, or I dunno, put troops in the last half ton of weight.

A five man fireteam might not be the most useful addition in the world, but if you push them far out ahead of the gun line and use them to spot for LRM and artillery fire, it might be useful. Depending on the situation, you might want to swap to the 5 man spotter/sniper team. The one I put here has armor, but at 17.5 tons of bootleg starslab on the base model, it's already rocking 280 points of armor, 8 more isn't going to make an appreciable difference.

Fuel Cell engines are of course expensive enough that this option would mainly likely be either sent out piecemeal as upgrade kits or to worlds already using the ICE Ikaris so that way they don't need to rejigger their entire logistics chain. Yeah, they'll need to find space for a supply line of FCE engine parts, electric motors, and hydrogen fuel, but those shouldn't be that hard to find, and Hydrogen can come from solar anyway.

Code: [Select]

Ikari Heavy Tank

Mass: 75 tons
Movement Type: Tracked
Power Plant: 225 Fuel Cell
Cruising Speed: 32.4 kph
Maximum Speed: 54 kph
Armor: Standard
Armament:
     1 Machine Gun
     3 LRM 5
     2 SRM 6
     1 AC/10
Manufacturer: Unknown
     Primary Factory: Unknown
Communication System: Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System: Unknown
Introduction Year: 2900
Tech Rating/Availability: E/X-D-D-D
Cost: 2,933,875 C-bills

Type: Ikari
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Movement Type: Tracked
Tonnage: 75
Battle Value: 1,317

Equipment                                          Mass
Internal Structure                                  7.5
Engine                        225 Fuel Cell          12
Cruising MP: 3
Flank MP: 5
Heat Sinks:                   1                       0
Control Equipment:                                  4.0
Power Amplifier:                                    0.0
Turret:                                             2.5
Armor Factor                  288                    18

                          Internal   Armor   
                          Structure  Value   
     Front                   8         71   
     R/L Side               8/8      57/57   
     Rear                    8         46   
     Turret                  8         57   


Weapons
and Ammo                      Location    Tonnage   
3 LRM 5                        Turret       6.0     
2 SRM 6                        Turret       6.0     
Machine Gun                    Turret       0.5     
AC/10                          Turret       12.0   
LRM 5 Ammo (48)                 Body        2.0     
AC/10 Ammo (20)                 Body        2.0     
SRM 6 Ammo (30)                 Body        2.0     
Half Machine Gun Ammo (100)     Body        0.5     

And I've placed all the weapons in the Turret because while it doesn't really look nice on the paper doll, aesthetically it pleases me.

[Daryk]

I only see 9 points average at beyond 15 hex range... 

[Ramblefire]

I only see 9 points average at beyond 15 hex range... 

Good enough for goverment work.

[Daryk]

Fair point! 

[Ramblefire]

Another FCE upgrade for the uncertainty of the Jihad era, deciding to take advantage of new advances in technology namely CASE and the MML.

Code: [Select]

Ikari Heavy Tank

Mass: 75 tons
Movement Type: Tracked
Power Plant: 225 Fuel Cell
Cruising Speed: 32.4 kph
Maximum Speed: 54 kph
Armor: Standard
Armament:
     2 MML 9
     1 Machine Gun
     1 AC/10
Manufacturer: Unknown
     Primary Factory: Unknown
Communication System: Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System: Unknown
Introduction Year: 3069
Tech Rating/Availability: E/X-X-E-D
Cost: 3,012,625 C-bills

Type: Ikari
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Standard)
Movement Type: Tracked
Tonnage: 75
Battle Value: 1,233

Equipment                                          Mass
Internal Structure                                  7.5
Engine                        225 Fuel Cell          12
Cruising MP: 3
Flank MP: 5
Heat Sinks:                   1                       0
Control Equipment:                                  4.0
Power Amplifier:                                    0.0
Turret:                                             2.5
Armor Factor                  280                  17.5

                          Internal   Armor   
                          Structure  Value   
     Front                   8         68   
     R/L Side               8/8      56/56   
     Rear                    8         44   
     Turret                  8         56   


Weapons
and Ammo                      Location    Tonnage   
Machine Gun                    Turret       0.5     
2 MML 9                        Turret       12.0   
AC/10                          Turret       12.0   
CASE                            Body        0.5     
MML 9 LRM Ammo (26)             Body        2.0     
AC/10 Ammo (20)                 Body        2.0     
MML 9 SRM Ammo (22)             Body        2.0     
Half Machine Gun Ammo (100)     Body        0.5     


[Daryk]

MMLs but no LB-X?

[Ramblefire]

MMLs but no LB-X?

LB-X autocannons require advanced materials like endosteel and stuff, which means repairing them or getting them repaired out in the boonies would be a lot more painful than it needs to be.

That and regular ACs can use specialty ammo.

[Daryk]

I'm more surprised they can lay hands on MMLs...

[Ramblefire]

I'm more surprised they can lay hands on MMLs...

You take missile launcher, you make it fire LRM and SRM at the same time how hard can it be?
Especially if you've got working examples to reverse engineer so you don't need to puzzle it out from first principles. It doesn't need fancy endosteel, it just needs a new way of firing missiles.

Ignore the exploded and burned out testing labs. Those are . . . movie scenes.

[Daryk]

 

Fair!

[CVB]

Reminds me of
Executive
"We won the contract to build a global wireless network!"

Engineer
"But we don't have the knowledge to build a global wireless network!"

Executive
"How hard can it be NOT to install wire?"

[Ramblefire]

Code: [Select]

Ikari Heavy Tank (Thumper)

Mass: 75 tons
Movement Type: Tracked
Power Plant: 225 ICE
Cruising Speed: 32.4 kph
Maximum Speed: 54 kph
Armor: Standard
Armament:
     1 Thumper
     1 Machine Gun
     1 SRM 6
Manufacturer: Unknown
     Primary Factory: Unknown
Communication System: Unknown
Targeting & Tracking System: Unknown
Introduction Year: 2500
Tech Rating/Availability: E/C-C-C-C
Cost: 1,573,688 C-bills

Type: Ikari Heavy Tank
Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Advanced)
Movement Type: Tracked
Tonnage: 75
Battle Value: 993

Equipment                                          Mass
Internal Structure                                  7.5
Engine                        225 ICE                20
Cruising MP: 3
Flank MP: 5
Heat Sinks:                   0                       0
Control Equipment:                                  4.0
Power Amplifier:                                    0.0
Turret:                                             2.0
Armor Factor                  280                  17.5

                          Internal   Armor   
                          Structure  Value   
     Front                   8         68   
     R/L Side               8/8      56/56   
     Rear                    8         44   
     Turret                  8         56   


Weapons
and Ammo                      Location    Tonnage   
Thumper                        Turret       15.0   
SRM 6                          Turret       3.0     
Machine Gun                    Turret       0.5     
Thumper Ammo (80)               Body        4.0     
SRM 6 Ammo (15)                 Body        1.0     
Half Machine Gun Ammo (100)     Body        0.5     

And just to round it all off, an artillery conversion which removes the AC-10 and LRM launchers for a thumper, leaving the machine gun for anti-infantry, and also left the SRM6 launcher for various functions. It also gives any light mechs that close in and infantry who sneak up something to think about.

Of course, being artillery, it would be somewhat unwise to have it in a place where light mechs or infantry can get at it, but unforeseen circumstances happen. And if nothing else, it's just as absurdly overarmored as the regular Ikari so if you get into an artillery duel, you know you're probably gonna be the one walking away from that fight even if the vehicle needs to be towed away.